Katie Grand Rolls Her Eyes at the Prospect of Replacing Alexandra Shulman at British Vogue

>> Thesecond edition of LOVE comes out next week, and even though she just recently got married, editor-in-chief Katie Grand didn't have time for a honeymoon because she had to finish the issue. Katie is somewhat the antithesis of Anna Wintour in the so-called glamorous world of fashion: she doesn't feel the need to have every hair in place and she doesn't mandate high heels, like Vogue supposedly does.

“I’m really practical,” she recently told the Times UK. “I go to the gym most mornings and I walk everywhere, so that’s why I wear flat shoes and no make-up. It’s not vanity; it’s laziness. I didn’t wear make-up on my wedding day because I didn’t want mascara running down my face if I cried.” Also missing from the wedding? The traditional white dress. “I wore an Azzedine Alaïa brown snakeskin dress, which he tortured me for about two months to get into, but at least it’s something I can wear again. I didn’t want some stupid white dress; it seems like such a waste."

Food banned at LOVE's office? »

She got engaged to now-husband and Pulp bassist Steve Mackey while throwing up in a field because she drank too much at stylist Charlotte Stockdale's wedding: “It was kind of really romantic and really unromantic.” And she doesn't want children, adding: “It’s a bit like going to India — I can’t ever imagine myself going. I just never wanted to have kids. It’s just one of those things, some women just don’t.”

It's doubtful that Conde Nast wants another another Anna in the mix, anyway; when prodded about the rumors that they're grooming her to be the next editor at British Vogue, Grand rolls her eyes:

Yes, when I was 17 I said I wanted to edit Vogue. I kind of regret saying it because it’s caused me so much trouble. But, you know, when I was 17 I did want to edit Vogue! I don’t think Conde would have given me my own magazine if replacing Alexandra Shulman was on their agenda, but I am very grateful that they did.

But she is very driven.

"I was definitely very ambitious in my twenties. I wanted to style the Prada show, edit a magazine, and own a house by the time I was 30. It’s that list of boxes you need to tick off or you can’t sleep at night. I’ve done a lot of the things I set out to do, so I don’t need to prove myself any more.”

And she's finding it harder to be subservient when she's hired as a consulting stylist.

“People don’t want you to invent the wheel, they want you to help them. Sometimes it’s hard: sometimes they just want you there at 3am to play Dolly Parton and lighten the mood; sometimes you have to hold back your opinions. The older and more experienced I get, the harder it’s become to sit in a room and be subservient.”

But back to LOVE: the Times UK reports a rumor that food may be banned in the magazine's office.

It’s been noted that Grand herself ate, well, nothing for quite a long time, a typical meal being a few fruit pastilles and a couple of spoonfuls of muesli with water. “Anorexia has nothing to do with fashion,” she says rather defensively. “There’s a million other contributing factors.” Then she clams up — it’s clear that talking about food is opening a can of worms. “This whole office is obsessed with food,” she says firmly. “Or no food. Or how long they can go to the gym for.” I’ve heard that food is banned in the office: Ryvitas are acceptable, but pasta salads are not.

“I thought it was interesting to add the new category of ‘unknown’ into the mix . . . The last issue was quite mature, so we decided to do a youth issue. I wanted to get a sense of what 15-year-olds were into. A lot of those London kids, they’re all hanging out with each other and are all so educated. My husband has a 13-year-old son, and all his school friends are children of famous film directors or musicians, and they are so sussed, they think everything is so boring. So it was hard, actually.”

Coco Sumner, who is on one of the magazine's two covers, was photographed as she walked in, no hair or makeup.

“She’s pretty unknown: what’s the point of reinventing her when no one knows what you are reinventing?”